James Charles Herbert Welbore Ellis Agar, 3rd Earl of Normanton DL (17 September 1818 – 19 December 1896),[1] styled Viscount Somerton from birth until 1868, was a Conservative and later Peelite member of parliament in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland before inheriting an Irish earldom and large estates in Ireland and Hampshire. In 1873 he was created a baron in the peerage of the United Kingdom, giving him a seat in the House of Lords.

Life

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Born in 1818 at Ditchley House, Oxfordshire,[2] he was the eldest son of Welbore Ellis Agar, 2nd Earl of Normanton, and Lady Diana Herbert, a daughter of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was president of the University Pitt Club.[3]

At an unopposed by-election in 1841, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Wilton, a constituency where the Earls of Pembroke had great influence, and was re-elected unopposed as a Peelite at the general election of 1847. He stood down from the House of Commons at the election of 1852.[4]

In 1851 he was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Wiltshire Yeomanry.[2]

In 1868, he succeeded his father as Earl of Normanton. As well as his country house in Hampshire, Somerley, he had a town house at 3, Seamore Place, St George Hanover Square, Westminster.[2] Both had belonged to the 2nd Earl of Normanton in 1830.[5]

As an Irish peer, Normanton did not have a seat in the House of Lords, unless elected as an Irish representative peer, which he never was. However, in 1873 he was created Baron Somerton of Somerley, in the peerage of the United Kingdom, giving him a seat in the Lords which would be inherited by his successors.

Children

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In 1856 Normanton married Caroline Susan Augusta Barrington, a daughter of William Barrington, 6th Viscount Barrington, and they had many children, including:[6]

References

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  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "W" (part 4)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 11 October 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c "Normanton, 3rd Earl of" in Dod’s Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland for 1870, p. 479
  3. ^ Fletcher, Walter Morley (2011) [1935]. The University Pitt Club: 1835-1935 (First Paperback ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-107-60006-5.
  4. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 333. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  5. ^ Sharpe's Peerage of the British Empire Vol. II (London: John Sharpe, 1830, p. 28
  6. ^ "Normanton, Earl of (I, 1806)". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Wilton
18411852
Succeeded by
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Earl of Normanton
1868–1896
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Somerton
1873–1896
Succeeded by